2/3/09
DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WORD WEB'S SUPER-JUMBO STUDENT ENRICHMENT LESSONS?
If you’re not fortunate enough to be using Word Web’s regular volumes with your class, don’t despair. You can take advantage of Word Web Vocabulary’s material by going to http://www.wordwebvocabulary.com. On the home page, click on "Teachers: Enter Here." Then go far down the red links on the right and click on Student Enrichment.
Once there, you’ll find an array of topics: Architectural Terms; Autos' and Sports Teams' names; separate lessons on shades of blue, green and red, and Large, Larger, Largest (vocabulary explaining interesting sizes). A word new to me, JumboTron, as mentioned frequently during President Obama's swearing-in ceremony, caught me up short. I'd never heard of such a device, so now I need to add it to those large sizes. Newly-created words are part of what makes vocabulary interesting. "Tron" appears to have no meaning of its own.
Not long ago, super-jumbo caught my attention for the same reason: I'd never seen or heard it before. It, too, belongs with the Large, Larger, Largest vocabulary lessons, which are in three separate sections, the first containing behemoth, colossal, colossus and cyclopean; the second, gargantuan, goliath, jumbo and mammoth (where I will now fit JumboTron); the third, leviathan, mammoth, massive and titanic.
I didn't include super because it is a root word in the forthcoming Volume IV. It is a colossal prefix itself with words such as superhuman, superhighway, supervise, superior, supernatural, supermarket, superlative, superb; Super Bowl, superficial, Superman, supersonic, superstructure; Superdome, supernova and on and on. Today, we’ve all become used to the concept of supersized this and supersized that, as well as the adjective form of super: super strong, super tired, super hero, not to mention Word Web’s Super Sentences®!
In another newspaper on the same day that I encountered the super-jumbo headline, I was captivated by an article about a 3 1/2-foot Calvatia gigantea, better known as the giant puffball mushroom, found in our area and hence the local news. Had I not been interested in large sizes, I 
might well have passed over this piece of news. Cognizance raises one’s level of observation.
Please take advantage of these interesting lessons for your students. Assign them as extra credit. If you cannot fit them into your regular classroom time, hand copies out to students to work on during any sort of holiday, including a snow day. They're sure to enjoy this type of homework!
I hope you'll share their work and conversations with me!
That's my word this time.
Ellie
